Starching-machine.



No. 669,775. a 4 Patented Mar. 12, mm.

G. B. WHEELER.

STARGHING MACHINE.

(Application filed Mar. 12. 1900.

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model) m: nonms PETERS co, ngorcmma, WASHINGTON. 0, c7

NlTED STATES PATENT 0FFICE;

GEORGE B. WHEELER, OF BELLOWS FALLS, vEEMoNT.

STARCHING-MACHINE.

sPEoIFIcA'rIoN forming part of Letters Patent No. 669.775, dated March 12, 1901.

Application filed March 12, 1900. Serial No. 812 (No model.)

To all whom 71']; 771/114 concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. WHEELER, of Bellows Falls, in the county of Windham and State of Vermont, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Starching- Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to starching machines in which a belt of fibrous absorbent material is carried through a starch-tank in contact with rotary supporting and guiding members, which may be a cylinder and a plurality of rolls, as shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 634,7l1,granted to me October 10, 1899. The machine set forth in said patent has a cylinder partly immersed in a starch-tank, a segmental series of rolls pressed simultaneously against theimmersed portion of the periphery of the cylinder, said rolls being reciprocated so that theyroll back and forth, and a belt interposed between the cylinder and the reciprocating rolls. The pieces to be starched pass between the belt and the cylinder, and the starch is pressed into the pieces by the reciprocating rolls.

The present invention has for'its object to provide certain improvements in a machine of this character looking to the more thorough incorporation of the'starch into the pieces, the convenient operation of the machine, and the guiding of the belt so that it will not be liable to slip edgewise out of its proper relation to the rotary members on which it moves.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents an end elevation of a starching-machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a sectional view of the same. Figs. 3 and 4 represent fragmentary sectional views illustrating the action of the pocketed or fluted reciprocating rolls. Fig. 5 represents a transverse section of one of the ribbed or welted belts and one of the rolls on which it moves. Figs. 6 and 7 represent perspective views of portions of the two welted belts.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, a represents a starch-tank mounted on a suitable supporting-frame and provided with suitable heating means, which may be as shown in my former patent.

c represents the starching-cylinder, which is affixed to a shaft 0, journaled in bearings on the supporting-frame of the machine, the cylinder being composed of a body portion of sheet metal, and a compressible absorbent covering 0 made by placing several layers of textile fabric upon said body portion. The lower portion of the cylinder projects into the tank ct, so that the cloth covering of the cylinder is supplied with starch by the tank.

ddrepresent a series of pressu re-rolls which are located in the tank at below the cylinder and are therefore immersed in the starch. Said rolls are supported by a frame 6, which is mounted to oscillate in a path concentric with the periphery of the cylinder, the rolls being arranged in a segmental series, so that each roll acts-on the goods passed, as hereinafter described, between the upper and lower belts. The frame e is provided with guides e, which are radially arranged relatively to the axis of the cylinder, and the rolls (1 are journaled in bearings (1, having stemsor rods (1 which are movable in the guides c. Springs d interposed between the inner ends of the guides e, and nuts d screwed upon the inner ends of the rods d press said rods and the rolls d yieldingly toward the axis of the cylinder.

f represents an endless lower belt or apron composed of any suitable textile fabric and supported by guide-rolls ff f f f The rear guide-rollf is pressed yieldingly against the cylinder or against the portions of the belts that are interposed between it and the cylinder in order that the starch raised from the tank by the cylinder and belts may be squeezed out of the belts and the cover of the cylinder and caused to drop back into the tank.

The roll f is journaled in bearings f which are adapted to slide on ratcheted segmental arms f pivoted atf tothe frame of the machine, the said bearings f having pawls f whereby they may be supported at any desired height on the arms f Springs 8, connected with the arms f and with the frame of the machine, cause the roll f to exert the desired squeezing pressure, which may be regulated by means of bearingscrews 5 f in short armsf formed on the-arms f The front guide-rollf is located below the feed-table t and is separated by an intervening space from the cylinder 0. 9 represents an upper belt which surrounds the cylinder 0 and is interposed between the cylinder and the cylinder-supported portion of the lower heltf. A'guide-roll g, located above and in front of the cylinder, guides the upper belt from the cylinder to a point above the feedtable, so that the upper belt brings to the operators station the pieces that have been starched by their passage under the cylinder between the two belts. A stretch of the upper belt passes vertically from the guide-roll g to the first roll of the series of' reciprocating rolls d. The relative positions of the feed-table, the guide-rolls g and f, and the said first roll 01 are such that stretches of the two belts are held just below the feed-table and in front of the cylinder in the form of a V-shaped throat which receives the pieces from the feed-table. The guide-roll g is adjustably supported by bearings 9 which are adjustably mounted on segmental ratcheted arms g hinged at g to the frame of the machine, and provided with short arms 9' and adjusting-screws 9 the bearings 9 having pawls g engaging the ratchet-teeth of the bars 9 The frame e is adapted to oscillate about the shaft 0, the latter being the center of oscillation. The frame is provided with arms 6 6 having open bearings e formed to bear upon the shaft 0', said open bearings permitting the frame to rock freely upon the shaft 0 and at the same time permitting the upper section of the frame to be raised from the shaft and from the lower sections when disconnected from the latter.

Means are provided, as described in my former patent, for oscillating the frame e about the shaft 0, and thus giving the rolls d a back-and-forth motion along the under side of the portion of the belt f that bears upon the cylinder. The rolls are pressed yieldingly againstthis portion of the belt, as hereinbefore described, so that they exert pressure upon the goods that pass between the two belts. This pressure is distributed by the oscillatingmotion of the frame and rolls, each roll being caused to move back and forth over a considerable extent of the periphery of the cylinder. The result of this action is that the starch which comes in contact with the goods is thoroughly incorporated into the meshes of the goods during their passage between the beltsfand g, the effectiveness ofthis operation being insured by the pockets formed in the rolls d, as hereinafter described. In this way a much more thorough saturation of the goods is secured during-the short travel of the goods between the belts than would be possible if the pressure-rolls did not have the described backand-forth movement.

Means are provided, as described in my former patent, for rotating the cylinder 0, and thus feeding the goods progressively between the cylinder and belt. The progressive m ovement of the cylinder is imparted to the belt g, so that the goods are carried forward between the belts g andf at a rate determined by the rate of rotation of the cylinder.

In Fig. 1 I show as the means of rotating the cylinder a gear connection between the shaft 0 and the shaft 25, which causes the oscillating motion of the frame. Said gear connection comprises a worm u on the shaft t, a

worm-gear it, meshing with the worm u and aiiixed to an intermediate shaft 10 a beveled gear u on the shaft a and a beveled gear a on the shaft 0.

The rolls d are preferably provided with longitudinal pockets separated by angles or ridges and formed so that charges of starch will be confined between the rolls and the lower belt and forced by the back-aud-forth rotations of the rolls through the lower belt and into the pieces between the belts. The preferred form of the rolls by which these pockets are provided is the division of the periphery of each roll into a series of concave faces 2, extending lengthwise of the roll, the intersection of each face with the next forming an angle 3. These angles or ridges sink into and indent the belts and the compressible cover of the cylinder and entrap charges of starch and force the same positively through the lower belt and the pieces above it and into the upper belt and the cover of the cylinder, so that these parts are kept thoroughly saturated. the metallic body of the cylinder constitutes a rigid or unyielding hearing which supports the compressible material interposed between it and the pocketed rolls cl. This rigid support is an important factor in the saturating operation, the pieces to be saturated being held so that the starch forcibly penetrates their meshes.

The pockets or concavities of the rolls may be of considerable width and depth, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, or they may be much smaller. In fact, they may be so slight as not to be capable of representation in drawings reduced to the scale of Figs. 1 and 2.

The belts f and g are provided with thickened portions or welts j on their edges, as shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, these being preferably formed by turning under the edges of the belts, thus forming rolls of the desired thickness,and stitching or otherwise securing the rolled portions. These welts engage the ends of the rotary partssuch as the rolls (1, the cylinder, and the various guide-rolls-as indicated in Fig. 5, thus preventing the belt from slipping edgewise out of its proper re- It will be seen that lation to said rotary parts. Owing to the fact that the ribs or welts j are formed byrolling or turning the edges of the belt they cannot shrink or stretch unequally with the belt, for the reason that they are composed of the same material as that composing said belt. Hence the thickened portions will always be in operative condition. Moreover, the turning un der of the edges of the belts, as above described, forms rolls or thickened edges which project only from the under side of the belt or that side which runs over or in contact with the machine-rolls, said thickened edges extending over the ends of said machine-rolls, as above described. This construction of the belts leaves their upper sides or those sides which act on the goods to carry them through the machine entirely smooth from edge to edge, so that the two belts -will uniformly bear on said goods, whether the latter are engaged by the middle or edge portions of said belts,

I claim 7 1. In a starching-machine, the combination of a rotating cylinder having an unyielding body and a compressible absorbent covering on said body, a starch-tank in which the lower portion of the cylinder is immersed, means for rotating the cylinder, a carrier composed of a belt or belts bearing against the immersed portion of the periphery of the cylinder, a segmental series of rolls pressed simultaneously against the under side of the cylindersnpported portion of the carrier, and having pocketed or fluted peripheries, and means for reciprocating the series of rolls, whereby they are caused to roll back and forth in contact with the carrier, the angles between the pockets on the rolls indenting the carrier and the compressible covering of the cylinder, while said parts are supported by the unyielding body of the cylinder, and confining charges of starch between the pockets and the carrier, which charges are forced through the carrier and the goods carried thereby by the conjoint action of the pocketed rolls and the rigid unyielding body of the cylinder.

2. In a starching-machine, the combination of a rotating cylinder having a compressible absorbent covering, a starch-tank in which the lower portion of the cylinder is immersed, an upper belt surrounding the cylinder and bearing against the immersed portion of the periphery thereof,a lower belt bearing against the cylinder-supported portion of the upper belt, a segmental series of rolls pressed simultaneously against the cylinder-supported por* tion of the lower belt and exerting pressure through the latter on the upper belt and 011 the covering of the cylinder, means for reciprocating the series of rolls to cause them to roll back and forth on the cylinder-supported portions of the belts, a series of guide-rolls arranged to conduct the lower belt to and from the series of reciprocating rolls and through the bottom of the tank, said series comprising an adjustable rear guide-roll elevated above the tank and holding the belts against the rear portion of the cylinder above its axis, and a front guide-roll located below the feed-table of the machine and separated by a work-receiving space from the front portion of the cylinder, and an adjustable elevated guideroll supporting a portion of the upper belt and arranged above and in front of the axis of the cylinder and cooperating with one of the reciprocating rolls and with the front guide-roll of the lower belt in supporting portions of the two belts in the form of a V-shaped throat below the feed-ta ble and in front of the cylinder.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE E. WHEELER.

Witnesses:

G. F. BROWN, A. D. HARRISON. 

